Computer Tyme Hosting is now offering a front end email spam filtering and virus removal processing service for your domains. We use our advanced spam and virus filtering servers to remove the junk email (spam) and viruses and pass the good email (ham) on to your current email server. The main advantage of this type of filtering is that it is easy to set up and it doesn't require you to change your existing email server.
The way this works: instead of the email coming from the Internet directly to your email server, as it does now - it goes to our spam filtering email servers. There it is stripped of spam and viruses and seconds later is passed on to your existing email server. We clean it - and pass it on to you.
There is nothing you have to change on your server - no software to install on your workstations - no changes to your workstation configuration. It takes only 5 minutes to turn it on and your junk email and viruses just go away. It's so easy it's almost too good to be true and IT JUST WORKS!
Activation involves two simple steps. First - we tell our servers where to send the email for your domain. Then - you change your DNS MX (mail exchange) record to tell the Internet to send mail for your domain to our servers. And that's it! Within hours after making the change your email goes to our servers - we strip out the junk - and pass the good stuff on to you. Can it really be that easy? Yes - it can!
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The system is very easy to set up and requires no hardware and you don't have to reconfigure your existing email server. All you have to do is set your mail exchange record (MX) to our servers and incoming email destined for your domains will be delivered to us - we process the messages - and then pass the good email on to your existing email server. Its that easy.
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MX Record Setup
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@ IN MX 5 smtp1.ctyme.com.
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@ IN MX 10 smtp2.ctyme.com.
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@ IN MX 15 smtp3.ctyme.com.
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The two level spam filtering makes this service unique. Messages are classified on a points system using Spam Assassin. Messages that score very high are considered high spam and they are eliminated. Messages that score between 5 points and 15 are considered low spam. These messages are flagged with special message headers indicating that they are "probably spam" and are passed on to your server. You can create filter rules to see these messages and route them to a spam folder.
The reason we do it this way is because no spam filter is perfect. But we deal with the fact that messages are missed or wrongly identified as spam in a way that helps to ensure that you don't lose any email.
If a message were falsely marked as spam - it would fall into the low spam classification. But with the high scoring spam removed completely - these false positives are far easier to find because they are in a much smaller pile of messages that are spam. This way the message is still delivered to you but because we get rid of the high scoring spam - there is far less spam reaching your server and it makes these false positives easy to find.
Here's a diagram of how the mail is processed:
What this means to you is - you don't lose any email due to the spam filter getting it wrong. The messages classified as low spam is often only 1/100 of the total spam sent to you. So what we do is bounce 99% of your spam and tag the remaining 1% as "probably spam" and pass it on to you.
Although we still recommend that end users use anti-virus software on their workstations and laptop computers - we provide a second level of defense - and a better defense against viruses. We strip the virus messages before they ever reach your users. And we do a better job of it that workstation anti-virus software does.
Although companies like McAfee and Symantec keep on top of viruses - there is a lag time between when a virus first appears and when they discover it. And an even greater lag time till end users download new virus definitions which might be as little as once a week. This creates a window of exposure where your end users are unprotected.
We use a server side virus filter called ClamAV. Our definitions are updated hourly so we are more likely to stop those new viruses faster than workstation installed software will. Additionally - we block all Windows Executable attachments so even if a new virus is created right now - if it's a Windows Executable - it's not going to get past our filter. Our system gives your users far stronger protection preventing then from being infected and resulting in downtime - loss of data - and costly repairs.
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Your end users don't have to change any of their email setting either and is compatible with popular email clients such as Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Mozilla, Netscape, Apple Mail, Eudora and others. Users can take further advantage of the spam filtering by creating a filter rule in their email client to route messages marked with the spam header tag to a special spam folder for later viewing.
Additionally - if your email users are using bayesian spam filtering already - our preprocessing will make those filters more accurate. These filters look at messages and learn what it spam and what isn't and with the additional header information your existing bayesian filtering will just start to work better leading to happier and more productive email users.
Spam detection headers typically look like this:
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would typically create a filter rule to look for a header that looks like this:
The bottom line is - this is a system that actually works - is easy to set up - and is well worth it. Do you want to spend your time deleting spam and viruses? Do you want your employees doing real work instead of deleting spam? If so - then this service sounds like what you need - email us with your details for a custom price quote.
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